Amazon had a great lightning deal on Instant Pot electronic pressure cookers. Several of my friends have been raving about theirs, so I finally hit the buy button. I gotta say, I do love it! We tried the kalua pork that’s in the instruction manual, which turned out as good as my all day crockpot pulled pork, but with about 90 minutes of cooking time. Today I tried my mushroom risotto. Normally it’s not something I’d try on a weeknight, but the recipes I checked out for the Instant Pot put it in the realm of possible, even with my little tornado of a helper. He was not interested in “mama’s mushroom rice” but we’ll give it another try sometime!

Turn the Instant Pot to saute and add the butter. When it starts to sizzle, add the garlic and cook for 15 seconds until it just starts to turn golden. Add the mushrooms, season lightly with salt and pepper, and stir to combine. Cook the mushrooms until they are just starting to brown and cook down. Add the wine and let the mushrooms cook down until the alcohol smell is almost gone and the wine is reduced by about half, about 10 minutes.

Add the rice and the chicken broth, stirring to combine. Season again lightly with salt and black pepper. Place the lid on and turn to seal. Turn the Instant Pot to Manual and set the timer for 6 minutes. It will come up to pressure over about 10 minutes, then it will count down the 6 minutes cooking time at pressure. WHen the timer reaches zero, carefully switch the top valve from Sealing to Venting for a fast release. When you are able, remove the lid and stir the risotto a final time. Serve warm with shaved parmesan cheese.

Stir together the yogurt, honey, and lemon juice until smooth. Add the craisins and apples and toss to combine. The salad can be made in advance up to here. Stir in the sunflower seeds just before serving so they stay crunchy.

This is an easy and delicious way to enjoy oysters if the ones you have are not quite up to the quality needed for on the half shell. The buttery crunchy topping plays nicely with the plump juicy oysters. This serves 4 as a light dinner, or 8 as a small plate.

Place about half of the cracker crumbs in the bottom of an oven proof dish (I used a 9 inch pie plate). Evenly spoon the oysters over the top, draining most of the liquid. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Top with remaining cracker crumbs. Drizzle butter evenly over the top.

Bake for 20 – 30 minutes, or until the liquid is bubbly all the way through and the cracker crumbs are toasted to a golden brown.

The chicken is marinated in a sweet and savory sauce for a few minutes, then simmered over medium heat to get the fine grain before the heat is turned up to boil off the remaining liquid and get the yummy browned surfaces. The eggs are scrambled over low heat with constant stirring to get a similar small grain size.

Whisk together the sake, soy sauce, grated ginger, grated garlic, and sugar for the chicken in a large skillet. Add the ground chicken and gently chop up the chicken with a spatula to stir the marinade in well and break up the chicken into fine chunks. It should almost look like oatmeal when you’re done. Set the chicken aside to marinate for a few minutes.

Crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk together with the sugar and salt until the mixture is a consistent viscosity and color. Set the eggs aside.

Put the skillet with the chicken over a burner on medium heat. As the chicken cooks, continue to stir to keep the pieces of chicken small. Once the chicken is cooked through (about 5 minutes), turn the heat up to medium high and boil off the remaining liquid, Brown the chicken well, then remove the chicken to a serving bowl and set aside.

Wipe out the skillet and add a little non-stick spray. Turn the heat to medium low. Pour the eggs into the skillet and scramble, stirring often to keep the grain size small. When the eggs are cooked through, spoon them into another serving bowl.

Spoon rice into a bowl and add egg to one half of the bowl and chicken to the other half. If desired, garnish down the middle with some diced scallions, chives, or even green peas like I did. Serve warm.

I blinked, and our little guy turned two! We had a nice little dinner at home on the actual day (lamb chops, corn on the cob, and broccoli – some meal time favorites), and a party with friends at a local park this past weekend. Everything went very well – the kids had a blast playing on the playground, and the picnic shelter was perfect for the sandwich fixings, fruit, veggies, and of course cookies and cake. Thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate with us and for those who sent wishes even though they couldn’t come!

Steven is a smart, funny, independent, adorable little fellow. He loves books of all types, animals – especially furry ones and most especially kitties and corgis, trucks, dinosaurs, Batman and Green Lantern (and the rest of the Justice League), and the Minions. He’s speaking in 4-5 word sentences and has very clear ideas about his needs and wants and how things should be. It’s been a blast watching him learn and grow, and now that he can express himself with words and have mini conversations, it’s even more fun!

This delicicous cake is based off one I found via Pinterest. The buttermilk adds a subtle tang. The original recipe called for nectarines, but this would work well with any stone fruit. I used some of the surplus of nectarots (a hybrid of nectarines and apricots) in mine.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.

In another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, 4 tablespoons of the melted butter and eggs. Pour the liquid ingredients over dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Lumps are okay.

Pour the remaining 4 tablespoons melted butter into the bottom of a 9-inch cake pan. Tilt the pan until the bottom and sides are all coated. Sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over the melted butter in the bottom of the pan. Arrange nectarot slices on top in a single layer, packing them together tightly.

Spoon the batter evenly over the fruit slices, then smooth out the top.

Place the pan on a cookie sheet to catch any overflow, then put the cake into the oven and bake for 35 – 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let the cake cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the cake to loosen it, then turn it upside down onto a serving plate.

I say inspired by, because we immediate proceeded to change just about everything. I’m sure it’s an awesome recipe, but it also provided us with a great way to use up some items in our fridge. The clementine salsa is a fresh, slightly sweet counterpoint to the spicy pork.

Pork Tacos with Clementine Salsa
Serves 2 generously

For the pork filling:
1 tsp canola oil
1 tsp pureed chipotle in adobo sauce (I puree a can and freeze most of it in an ice cube tray. Then I can defrost just a bit when I need it.)
1 large clove garlic, pressed
16 oz lean ground pork
kosher salt and black pepper
1 tbsp lemon juice

Preheat the oven to the lowest setting (mine is 170 degrees F). Heat the tortillas in a non-stick skillet, then place in the oven to keep warm.

Toss together the salsa ingredients and set aside for the flavors to meld.

Heat the oil in your skillet, then add the chipotle and the garlic and cook until the garlic is just starting to turn golden and fragrant. Add the pork and brown well, making sure that the chipotle and garlic are evenly distributed. Turn the heat off, season to taste with salt and pepper, and toss with the lemon juice.

This is a healthy, easy bake for breakfast. I made this last night and enjoyed a piece for breakfast this morning. I let it go a bit long in the oven, so it’s a bit more brown in the picture than I was aiming for, but it’s still quite tasty. The time is a pure guess, as I didn’t set any timer.